Merry Christmas!

 HO, HO, HO! Hello, half-bloods! 


 Long time, no post. Sorry about that. It will be my New Year's resolution to write at least one post every week!
 Tomorrow is Christmas, which just so happens to be my favorite holiday! In celebration, here is a compilation of some Christmasy PJO/HoO fan-made things! :)

What's Christmas without some Percabeth?

Credit: Amigo12 on deviantART

The Seven going ice skating.

Credit: BlueSeptember on deviantART

Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter Christmas tree ornaments.

Can be purchased for $12.99 (USD) each on Etsy (click here for Camp-Half Blood, and here for Camp Jupiter).

A Percy Jackson-inspired Christmas tree.

Credit: LoganBerry on Pinterest

A series of pure adorableness. 

Credit: nuffedilla on Tumblr

Leo as an elf! :D

Credit: Someone on Tumblr... I couldn't find the original artist! :o

Last but not least, a book tree! :D

Credit: bookstuffreviews on Tumblr

What did I miss at the House of Hades tour?

 Long time, no post... sorry about that...

 Didn't get a chance to go to the House of Hades book tour? Worry not!



This is a full recap of him at Politics and Prose in Washington, D.C.. I'd imagine that he did the same speech (or whatever you'd like to call it) at all of the events, so this is what you probably missed.

 The video is a good recap of his endeavors as a child, college student, teacher, and writer. It's also a good thing to watch if you're wondering what it's like to get published, because it did take him quite a while. Enjoy!!

Percy Jackson's Greek Gods

I'm very happy to be showing you the cover for Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, which will be out sometime in August 2014! :)

 I'm very excited for this epic-looking book. You can find out more about what to expect here. Sadly, that is all I know for now, although it does look very promising. I will keep you posted if anymore information is released! :)

House of Hades: Review & Discussion (SPOILERS INCLUDED)

WARNING! Contains MAJOR House of Hades spoilers! Do not read past this point if you haven't finished the ENTIRE book! 

 Friday evening, I finished The House of Hades. Although it wasn't perfect, it was phenomenal. When I was finished, I wondered, "Now... what am I supposed to do with my life?" My answer? Re-read the Heroes of Olympus again! ;D

 The characters overall in this book were BEYOND incredible. Getting seven points of view was both a gift and a curse. I was really excited for all seven to get their own POVs, because I absolutely LOVE all of the members of the seven. However, when I read them, it kind of seemed crowded. I do see why Uncle Rick had to do it: each member of the seven had a little "on his/her own" scene, where none of the other seven were involved (The exception may be Percy and Annabeth, but one does not simply put in one of their perspectives and not put in the other)... Hazel with the Hecate scene in the beginning, Leo with the Calypso thing, Jason with Nico & Cupid (and the dream), Frank with the poison cows and blessing of Mars, and Piper with her Khoine showdown. Everything got really confusing at some points (maybe I was reading too fast?), BUT I did enjoy seeing how each of the characters reacted to the situations and how they viewed each other. It's kind of like a giant reality TV commentary, except a thousand times better. (One can only take so much of America's Next Top Model.)

 I'll take this review/discussion thingamajig character by character, then just add any extra general comments at the end. :D

 Percy & Annabeth: Sorry guys, but these two count as one. They were together for almost the entire duration of the book, which made me (and I'm sure many other Percabeth fans) very, very happy, although I can't say that I would have liked to be in their situation. The cute Percabeth scenes and dialogues really made me smile.

"College," she gasped. "Could we go there together?"
 "Y-yeah," he agreed, a little more confidently.
 "What would you study, Percy?"
"Dunno," he admitted.
"Marine science," she suggested. "Oceanography?"
"Surfing?" he asked.

 Things like that really tickled my funny bone, especially amid all of the sadness. And when Percy referred to Annabeth as "hot" in a barbarian princess kind of way... <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

 Let us all take a moment to reflect upon Annabeth's cleverness when they came to the Hermes shrine. That entire situation astounded me. I just thought it was really cool! (AND RIPTIDE CAN BE USED AS A PEN! WOOT!)

 I was also very relieved that they found a friend in Bob the Titan, even after he remembered who he was. Percy and Annabeth did a good job of convincing him to do what he thinks is good, and they were fortunate enough for him to pick their side! Little Bob also really made me smile.

 Damasen, the anti-Ares, was a great character. His return in the end to help was somewhat predictable (which is a recurring problem throughout the book, sadly). Percy and Annabeth's visit to his home was the answer to what we were wondering about their clothing on the US cover. (For the record, the fact that P&A look like models on the UK cover still bothers me, especially when they're standing in front of Tartarus himself.) The creepy Death Mist chick, Akhlys, was really depressing. I can't say I liked her all that much. The scene with Nyx was priceless. "You weren't in the brochure!" xD

 A lot of stuff happened in Tartarus, and I could go on forever about it, but I won't. My personal favorite scene was the confrontation with the arai (the creepy Fury-like old grandma curse demons). I swear, I'm not a sadist! I just found it very intriguing. It really made them think about how many monsters they've killed or hurt. My heart pretty much broke when Annabeth thought Percy had abandoned her. </3 Calypso is mean. :(

 One last thing on the adventures in Tartarus: Tartarus himself. I'm still trying to wrap my brain around how Tartarus could manifest himself inside of himself. It's kind of hard to understand, and it kind of ruined some things for Percy and Annabeth when he just popped up out of nowhere as they were about to cut the chains!

 Hazel: HAZEL WAS AMAZING IN THIS BOOK. That girl has never ceased to amaze me. If anyone doubted her power before, they aren't now!

 If I had to pick a leader out of the six demigods on the Argo II in House of Hades, Hazel would be my pick. She was the glue that held the group together in the absence of Annabeth and Percy. She's just fabulous.

 I felt kind of bad that she had to do the Mist tricks and work with magic, because that was, after all, one of the many factors that ruined her mother's life. When she did master it however, I couldn't help but be proud of her.

 Piper: Piper had quite a bit of character development in this book as well. Her showdown with Khione was awesome, and I love how she didn't let Khione get under her skin. She found a way to turn the tables, and I think that, in her own way, Piper is just as clever as Annabeth.

 It's also pretty epic how she brought Festus alive with her charmspeak. I'm not quite sure how that really worked, but hats off to her for believing in herself! (I'm beginning to think that belief is a huge theme throughout this series, or at least this installment.) Oh, and she's learning how to sword fight from Hazel. Can I just have more of this friendship?! When I found out that they were becoming friends I kind of freaked out. Little details like this just make my imagination go crazy with ideas about what they could do with each other and how they spend their free time (when they actually have some), and also what they talk about. I hope for a conversation between Piper and Hazel in the future. I don't think that's asking for too much.

 Finally, I have to wonder... WHERE IS MY PRECIOUS JASPER?! Yes, I ship Jasper now. One TLH re-read is enough to get one to that point. Jeyna just seems so unrealistic at this point, and I love both Piper and Jason and simply want them to be happy. So where were the precious Jasper scenes? We had like, two lines. Grrr.

 Frank: Fai Zhang, how you've grown.

 I'm incredibly proud of Frank. C H A R A C T E R  D E V E L O P M E N T. When he got the blessing of Mars around him (TWICE), I couldn't help but just be super happy for him. AND HE'S PRAETOR NOW WHICH MAKES ME BEYOND HAPPY BECAUSE I LOVE FRANK A LOT AND I THOUGHT THAT HE DIDN'T GET ENOUGH CREDIT IN PREVIOUS BOOKS! :D

 Jason: I missed Jason. We got Annabeth, Percy, Piper, and Leo POVs last book, and Frank and Hazel POVs two books ago. It's been three books. I truly missed him. (I may have actually written a post about this at one point...Hmm.)

 Now that I actually got to see inside of that mind of his, I got to appreciate how he's changed since The Lost Hero, and how he's been since his memories have been restored. I was actually astonished to see that he wanted to go completely Greek, but it made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside at the same time. Finding out that he chafed under the rules of the Romans excited me, because it actually revealed some of his personality. I may be perceiving this incorrectly, but Jason seems really guarded and unreadable sometimes. I just wanna know him better, know him better, know him better now. (Hehe. Anyone get the reference?)

 However, Jason's combat skills were underwhelming, to say the least. Dear Jason, why must you always become incapacitated so quickly? Dwarves: Upside-down. Khione: Oops, frozen. In the Necromanteion: Can't control the legion, gives up praetorship. Et cetera. He just makes it really hard for me defend him when people point out these things. I love him so much for no apparent reason, and I want to show people that he's not what they think he is, except... Usually, what they think of him is right. Which is sort of depressing for me.

 Nico: Nico seemed to act really strange in this book. I know that he's always been reserved and quiet around people after he figured out his lineage, but he seemed to be sulking around the Argo II for the majority of the book. It made a bit more sense after the scene with Cupid, but his behavior still creeped me out. Nico has mildly scared me since the end of The Titan's Curse. I'm not sure why. Maybe it has something to do with the whole making skeletons pop out of the ground at his will thing. But you know, probably not.

  As I said, Nico was very quiet. Half of the time, I forgot he was there. Until we met Cupid.

 I have to say, the Cupid scene gave me chills. Most of the minor gods in this book were pretty lame, and I didn't really take them seriously: Triptolemus, Sciron (who's technically a demigod but whatever), Favonius.

Not all that impressive. However, Cupid I could take seriously. He was very mysterious and somewhat frustrating. He was making me very anxious. Cupid could be a dangerous enemy...

 So Cupid forced Nico to reveal his secret: he has a crush on Percy. Um... What?

 I have to say, I was not expecting this. Either Rick Riordan just came up with this recently, or Nico has done a really good job of hiding it, because I've never even thought of that being possible. Sure, I've seen fanart, but people draw the weirdest things sometimes (Example #1: Percy/Jason. o_O). It just seems completely out of the blue...

 And to add to that, the only person who knows is Jason! (Did a Nico/Jason ship cross anyone's mind at that point...?) I have the strangest feeling that he's going to spill the beans to someone, and I feel like that person would most likely be Hazel (because she's Nico's sister) or Piper (because she's Jason's girlfriend). This "secret" also builds a golden opportunity for a friendship between Nico and Jason. Secret sharing brings people closer! It seems that Nico pushes away friendship. All the things that Jason said to him are true. He needs to stop running and find a home, and some friends. There are people willing to befriend him.

 Leo: Leo was wondrous, as always. His humor is always in the right place, and that's one of the things I love him for. I had to admire how he handled those dwarfs (aka epicly) and how he sent them after the Romans. xD

 Now, I know the thing that I'm sure all of you want to talk about is the Calypso thing. I have to say, when Khione said that he was going somewhere that he could never leave, I instantly thought of Ogygia. When he crash-landed on Calypso's table, I was first of all relieved that he survived, and secondly very angry at Calypso. I just don't like her after this. She was basically screaming her head off at him for something that wasn't even his fault. (I hate people like that.) In addition to that, she was very quick to judge him on appearance. "A SCRAWNY, GREASY KID JUST LANDED ON MY TABLE! CURSE YOU, ZEUS!" 

 One could argue that she has the right to be angry, because the gods didn't set her free (by the way, what's up with that?), but could she at least have a shred of humanity (yes, I know she's a Titan, not a human, but still...) and help the dude up? If someone fell from the sky onto my table, I'd be more concerned about the health and safety of whoever fell than I would about my table, regardless of how he or she LOOKED. My best friend described Calypso as "acting like a spoiled brat that got cut off from her daddy's money".

 Oh, blah blah blah, they fell in love. I have to admit that Calypso wearing jeans and a t-shirt to help Leo out was somewhat cute, but I still don't like their "relationship", but that's just me. :P

 I was kind of annoyed at that point that I was reading the book on my Kindle, because it will break if I throw it at the wall, and I really wanted to throw it against the wall when Leo swore on the River Styx to come back for Calypso. LEO. WHY? DO YOU HAVE A DEATH WISH? D: My poor Leo. :( If he doesn't find Ogygia again... I don't even want to think about that. He has to find it! He will find it. He will always find it. (OUAT, anyone?)

 Assorted Thoughts: Hazel's and Pasiphae's Mist manipulation confuzzled me. I wasn't sure what was real and what was a product of their minds, but I suppose that's the point of the Mist. I also wasn't quite sure how the whole "hey-Piper-brought-Festus-back-to-life-with-charmspeak-alone" thing. I suppose that I'm like Leo in that respect. That kind of magic just doesn't make sense... There's no reasoning behind it. But hey, if it works... it works!

 I also thought there was a huge buildup to a death of one of the Seven or Nico at the end when they had to close the Doors, and it never happened. That was rather anti-climactic in my opinion, but I'm still relieved that none of them died. However, this probably means that someone is almost definitely going to die in the next book. When you have seven to eight main characters, at least one, if not two of them, is most likely going to die. It really wouldn't be realistic at all if all of them made it out of The Blood of Olympus unscathed. 

 CAN WE JUST TAKE A MOMENT TO TALK ABOUT COACH HEDGE?!? He married Mellie?! When did this happen?!? AND THEY'RE HAVING A KID??? haotaowipetiai;otwhawtji!!! This is one of the cutest couples ever. I just love them. <3

 I was a little bit baffled at a few things, which were probably just mistakes that Rick made and the editor didn't catch. (Patrick probably would have caught them. :P) It said something about Tristan McLean's secretary "Jessica"... I think that was supposed to be Jane. Also, Rachel called Octavian the son of Apollo (which he isn't), and Octavian didn't correct her. Maybe he didn't want to humiliate himself, or maybe it was just a mistake. He strikes me as the "correct-someone-to-avoid-needing-an-actual-good-comeback" type.

 Finally, I think it's important to address the lack of a real cliffhanger, or even a tiny one. With The Mark of Athena, everyone was dying to know what happened to Percy and Annabeth after the fall, and I was right there with them. However, with The House of Hades, we don't have anything nearly as bad as that. Perhaps Mr. Trolldan wishes to make up for the last ending, or maybe he figures that a cliffhanger isn't necessary to keep people reading, since the next book is the last book and we may as well finish out the series. There are plenty of unanswered questions, which will hopefully be answered for us in The Blood of Olympus. Let the waiting begin once again...

 P.S. Feel free to leave a comment, send an email (PJOForever@gmail.com), or tweet us (@HotSauceValdez)! I love to hear your opinions on this. :)

Twitter!

Hello! I just made a twitter for this blog. The username is @HotSauceValdez. :) Please give us a follow! (If you are a Percy Jackson fan account I will follow you back.)

P.S. I have finished House of Hades. There will be a discussion post up soon!

New Character Art & My Policy on Spoilers

 Hey there, half-bloods! :)

 HOUSE OF HADES CAME OUT YESTERDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 ARE YOU EXCITED?
 I'M EXCITED!

 Before I jump into the topic of the character art we've been shown, I'd like to address the matter of spoilers. I may make some posts that spoil some things, but I will definitely post a warning at the beginning of the post in that case. If I make a post with spoilers in it, you may comment spoilers as well, as long as they're nothing past the chapters I am speaking of. For example, if I say a post has House of Hades spoilers up to Chapter 32 (XXXII), you can comment about anything UP TO, but not BEYOND, that point. You could comment about Chapter 20, or Chapter 18, or Chapter 32, just not anything 33 or above. Does that make sense? It is just a courtesy to both me and other readers of this blog, because I don't want to be spoiled either. And PLEASE, do not let me spoil you! Enjoy the book, and be surprised! :D

 Now, to the main topic. I never got a chance to post the new official character art before the book came out, so I'll post it now. :)

I'd have to say Nyx is my favorite. Gotta go read now. ;D bye! :)

Mystery Locations

Warning! May contain Mark of Athena and kind-of-ish-but-not-really House of Hades spoilers!

 Since I didn't get around to writing a post yesterday, here is a second post for today!

 Recently, Rick Riordan has been posting pictures of "mystery locations" for The House of Hades on his Instagram account, which are basically real places that the characters are going to visit in the book. Let's find out what they are!

Mystery Location #1

Google Search says... nothing. -_-

 Google search says... The Fountain of Neptune in Bologna, Italy!

Mystery Location #2

Google search says... St. Mark's Clock Tower in Venice, Italy!

Mystery Location #3

Google Search says... the Ruins of Salona in Solin, Croatia! We will also see demigods encounter a god here.

Mystery Location #4

Google search says... Valletta, Malta! The Argo II will dock here.

 It definitely sounds like we're going to have a lot of Europe in store this book!

 2 DAYS!

Where to buy House of Hades?

Warning: the information in this post is for US readers only. I have no idea about any other country. International demigods, your best bet is to do a Google search or ask your local bookstore for information as to where you can buy House of Hades and when you can get it.

 As October 8th draws near, we all have that grueling choice of where to buy our precious copy of House of Hades. Luckily for us, there are many options of where we can get this lovely book. Unfortunately, that means that we must make choices.

 In a recent blog post, Rick Riordan pointed out what exclusive items are available in specific stores. You can get bumper stickers from the Walmart edition, a map of Tartarus from the Barnes & Noble edition, or a door hanger from the Target edition.

 If any of those sound interesting to you, I would recommend that you go to the bookstore and buy the physical book if you want it on Tuesday. All of those stores have websites where you can order it, and the price of the actual book is less, but to get it shipped to you by the actual release date can become very expensive.

 If you do want to order online, you can order it from Amazon. If you are an Amazon Prime member, you can get free 2-day shipping, which means that you should get it on Tuesday or Wednesday if you order it today. If you don't have Prime, there is a fee. Again, this fee is pretty high, so you may be better off either waiting (getting standard shipping) or going to a store to pay cover price.

 An option that is very popular in this day and age is getting the e-book version. The Kindle, Nook, and iBook versions cost much less money than a hard cover, and guess what? The book will pop up on your device when midnight arrives! (I'm not sure about iBooks and Nook, but the Kindle version actually only comes at 1AM EST. :/)

 Lastly, and my most likely option, is going to a library. Some libraries receive the book and add it to their collection on the release date, and you can be added to a waiting list if you check online or with a librarian.

 I really hope this post put some thoughts into your head about where you are going to get the book, and wherever that may be, ENJOY IT WHEN YOU GET IT! :D

 2 more days! :)

House of Hades POV Update

Warning! May contain Mark of Athena spoilers! (Also contains the POVs for House of Hades, so if you don't want to know that, LEAVE. Hehe. I have other posts. Seeeee ya!)

 Hello! Awhile ago, I did a post theorizing on the possible HoH perspectives. I was under the impression that there would be four, because Mark of Athena had four (Annabeth, Percy, Leo, and Piper).

 However, I have learned otherwise. This interview with Rick Riordan by Publisher's Weekly was published online on Tuesday. In the first minute or so, he stated:

"The House of Hades is the fourth book in the Heroes of Olympus series, um, and I think that the main difference with this one is that we have seven main characters that have been, sort of, being drawn through the other books in the series, and now, for the first time, they're all together, they all have their own points of view, and they're sort of all reacting in their own way to this quest that they're on."

 So, in other words, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THE MEMBERS OF THE SEVEN IS GOING TO HAVE A POINT OF VIEW! :D This makes me very excited. :) (And by the way, I have confirmed this with someone who got the book early due to a bookstore's 'mistake'. ;))

4 DAYS!

...I'm on Yahoo Answers?!

  I was just casually looking through my blog's statistics when I noticed a few links that people discovered my blog through. Usually, I don't click the links because a lot of them lead to malicious websites for whatever reason. (I'm not sure why. I also get a lot of strange spam comments.)

 One of them was a Yahoo Answers link. I'm familiar with Yahoo Answers, and I know that it's not a dangerous website, so I decided to click the link. Then I found this.

 Umm... Whoa? I had no idea that people actually, like... referred to my website like that. Umm. Yeah. I was kind of taken aback. THIS IS SO COOL! (I mean, sure, the asker thought I wasn't reliable, but I guess I'm sort of not too reliable from an objective standpoint...)

 So yeah, that's my exciting story. I will keep giving you daily updates and posts leading up to the House of Hades release day. :)

 As far as the wait goes...

Last Olympian Deleted Scene

Warning! May contain Last Olympian spoilers!

 Recently, Rick Riordan revealed a scene that he spoke of quite a while ago and mentioned again just recently. (I thought it was kind of tantalizing for him to mention it in the first place, but isn't that the point of his job? Trolling, that is.) Ever since he first brought it up, I've wanted to read it. Now, I've gotten my wish!

 The scene happens during the Last Olympian, after Morpheus puts all of the mortals to sleep. I won't spoil anymore of it for you, so here it is! :)

What You Don't Realize About... Leo

Warning! May contain Lost Hero spoilers! 

 Hey there! I have decided to start a new series of posts, called "What You Don't Realize About...". Each post will be dedicated to a different character from Percy Jackson or the Heroes of Olympus, and it will point out different traits or qualities of that character that I have noticed most people tend to overlook. The first character I have decided to write about is Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus.

 Think of Leo Valdez. What is the first thing that comes to mind? Humor? Grease? Trouble-making? Metal Dragons? Fire? Your future wedding?

  I'm willing to bet you weren't thinking of his intelligence. What most people, readers and characters alike, don't seem to realize is that Leo is actually a genius. To be able to build things the way he does, he needs to have a thorough understanding of physics and related topics. He can fix nearly anything and solve complex math equations in his head (which was mentioned in The Lost Hero). Your ordinary average Joe couldn't do that.

 Usually, if someone mentioned "The Smart One" in Heroes of Olympus, a reader's automatic response would be Annabeth. However, it's rather safe to assume that Leo's math and science skills are equal to, or perhaps even better than Annabeth's. Of course, Annabeth is an architect, which would mean that she has a lot of mathematical and scientific background. Then again, Leo would be defined as an engineer, which requires just as much technical knowledge, if not more. Annabeth and Leo are also both equally clever. Whenever Leo comes up with a battle plan, it's crazy and outside-of-the-box, and somewhat reckless. Annabeth is a more rational and organized thinker in her strategy, but either way, the plan works out (usually). 

 The fact that Leo's smartness is overlooked is kind of disappointing to me. He does have other shining qualities, such as his awesome sense of humor and his natural inclination to lighten the mood, but so few people actually acknowledge his brains. Although Annabeth is better rounded in history, literature, mythology, and the like, you can't count Leo out. He maybe isn't quite how you would traditionally imagine a mathematical prodigy, but it can't be denied that he definitely fits in that category.

P.S. If you have a request for a "What You Don't Realize About...", please leave it in the comments or email me at PJOForever@gmail.com!

Blog Revamp

You may have noticed how my sidebar pictures have disappeared. Well, the formatting was messed up and I wasn't quite sure how to fix it, so I will be starting from scratch! Expect some new blog improvements in the near future. :)

House of Hades Excerpt - Video and Discussion

Warning! May contain Mark of Athena spoilers!




Hi there, demigods! I just thought we should discuss this awesome video because... well... IT'S A HOUSE OF HADES EXCERPT! The actual text of this is probably less than a page, but that's trivial.

As far as the video itself goes, it's very intense, dramatic, and overall perfect. The elements of the dark background, ominous glow on Uncle Rick and the book, and gradually advancing and fading words coalesce to make an artistic and enthralling visual. I find the closer-up angles of Rick's face to be somewhat creepy, especially with the lighting highlighting every small detail. (Not that he's creepy or anything...) He reads the excerpt very trollishly, which is always appreciated. /sarc/ Anyway, it's definitely enough to give people chills.

The actual content of the excerpt... atu;lehiaowteulaiw;etawj;lit6ahwotaw4hawtya;wtba

Excuse me while I FREAK OUT. 

My main question: WHY DO THEY NEED TO HAVE THE PAIN THRESHOLD OF SOMEONE IN THE FIELDS OF PUNISHMENT?!?!?!?!

There are five rivers surrounding the Underworld: Styx, Cocytus, Lethe, Phlegethon, and Acheron. The Styx is the river which people swear oaths on; the Cocytus is the river which is known as the river of cries/lamentation; the Lethe is the river which the deceased drink from to forget their earthly lives; the Phlegethon is the fire river; and the Acheron is the river of woe. 

Percy and Annabeth have just come from the Cocytus. According to legend (or Google, but whatever), the dead who were not able to pay Charon sufficiently had to walk along its banks for the rest of eternity. Now that I think about it, didn't those people just stay in the waiting room at DOA Studios? Hm.

Even so, I can just imagine what it would be like in that area. A bunch of crying dead people who were in serious need of drachmas probably tried mugging Percy and Annabeth. Or worse.

The Phlegethon is the river of fire, and I can't seem to find much more about it on the internet, which makes me even more curious. Referring back to my initial question... why? Why is it that they need to drink from this river? Why would they need that kind of pain threshold? Couldn't they just go for a dip in the Styx again? 

What do you think of this excerpt? What happened to Percy and Annabeth before they got to the Phlegethon? Why do they need to drink from it? Leave your thoughts in the comments! :)

Sea of Monsters Movie Discussion

Warning! Contains Sea of Monsters (book and movie), Titan's Curse, Battle of the Labyrinth, and Last Olympian spoilers!

Hello there! I promised you a review/discussion with spoilers, so here it is! Like three weeks late! Just so you know, I am going to try my best to be as diplomatic as possible. That may become a bit difficult once I get to the part where I talk about the end of the movie, but I will try.

Characters: The way that the characters were portrayed did not do them justice at all. The minor characters were very well done, but the main characters could have used a lot of work.

Characters are probably the most important element to get right in a book-to-movie adaptation, especially if there are sequels in the works. You can try to fix a plot, and maybe a setting, but you cannot fix characters once you establish their personalities. It's technically possible, but a very sloppy choice.

Percy seemed very not-Percy-ish, and he had some weird self-worth issues that rarely even crossed his mind in the book. Annabeth came across as arrogant and a little bit dumb. She's supposed to be a strong and smart daughter of the goddess of wisdom, but all that seemed to be thrown out the window when she constantly asked others what was happening and had to consult an iPad to find a myth that she should have known anyway. Any intellect that she had in the previous movie seemed to disappear as the blond hair dye took its place. Her negative behavior toward Tyson was overdone; she didn't even attempt to hide her dislike for cyclopes. Tyson was much too knowledgeable for my liking. Compared to Annabeth, he seemed like a scholar. Clarisse seemed to get too soft toward the end, and developed too fast -- she doesn't soften up too much until the Battle of the Labyrinth, which we still aren't sure is happening as far as movies go.

Other than those few, the rest of the characters were really great. Hermes (Nathan Fillion) and Dionysus (Stanley Tucci) were my favorites, and SO hilarious. I also adored the Gray Sisters. I loved Tyson, too. They did really well with him, except for the small matter of his excessive intelligence. 

One thing that I disliked that I mentioned in the spoiler-free review was the character interaction. Since Tyson was introduced to Percy as a cyclops, Percy didn't seem to like him too much, and I didn't like that. Of course, in the book, Percy resented that Poseidon claimed Tyson, but he still stood up for Tyson. In the movie, the only thing that Percy seemed to care about was his reputation.

One thing that we got to see in the movie but not in the book that I kind of enjoyed was Grover being brotherly toward Tyson. I know Grover was afraid of Tyson in the book, but that was still something I enjoyed.

Acting: Acting is kind of a hard category to discuss. Some moments were excessively cheesy, and it was kind of hard to tell whether it was the actor or the screenwriter who made it that way. I suppose the acting overall was fairly good, but nothing that blew me away. Annabeth's sarcasm/sassy moments were priceless. Applause for you, Miss Daddario.

Setting: I did like how they portrayed Camp Half Blood this time around. It seemed more camp-ish, and the scene in the beginning showed the kind of challenges that they probably do every once and a while at CHB, and what I'm guessing is the amphitheater.

I actually thought the OPS building with Hermes was a really good idea. That showed a bit more creativity and originality on the movie makers' part.

The Princess Andromeda was a bit awkward for me. There weren't many monsters or entranced mortals, just a manticore and Luke with a few other demigods and his dramatic classical music.

Oh, and Charybdis's stomach was really gross.

Plot: The external plot overall was almost spot-on. Clarisse is supposed to be getting the Golden Fleece, but Percy & co. go to look anyway. Grover wasn't gone in the beginning, but that was probably because they didn't explain anything about Pan in the first movie. He did get kidnapped later, though.

The only problem: the internal plot. When I say internal, I mean what the main character's (in this case, Percy's) motivations and feelings are throughout the story, if that makes sense. In the book, Percy's main motivation to find the fleece is that Grover is kidnapped/stranded on the island where the Fleece is. In my trailer reaction post, I think I mentioned how I thought Percy going after the Fleece would seem a bit attention-seeking to me without Grover being kidnapped, and I still stand by that. Percy didn't have to be the best at everything. It's okay to be second... after all, it's better than third, fourth, fifth, or last! Percy really had nothing to prove to Clarisse. I thought Percy was being a bit melodramatic, myself. Is it just me? Eh. Probably. But yeah, that was a big thing for me.

Pacing: I mentioned this in the spoiler-free review. The scene distribution was downright weird. They spent more time leading up to the quest than they did on the quest. I wish they had spent more time on the stuff actually in the Sea of Monsters (WE. WANT. GUINEA PIGS!) than the things before that, which weren't that necessary. They could have even made it longer, and just added more scenes in the sea.

Scenes: This is probably the most positive part of this discussion. I LOVED the little scenes they had! I just wasn't a huge fan of how they put them all together. I felt like the movie was a huge shout-out to the book, as opposed to an adaptation. But yeah.

• Flashbacks: Fabulous. The little actors were sooooo cute and so talented!
• Obstacle Thingy Majig: I can't say that I really understood the purpose of this "contest", but I thought it was an interesting scene. What I liked even more was what was happening in the background. My favorite line in the whole movie was, "The Christians have a guy who can do this in reverse. Now that's a god."
• The Oracle: I liked how they included it, but I wasn't a fan of the whole add-the-Great-Prophecy-3-movies-earlier thing... The stained glass window effects were cool, but the Oracle seemed too direct! She's supposed to speak in riddles, not just give things away.
• Gray Sisters' Cab: This was one of my favorite scenes. I laughed so hard. 
• OPS: I liked this scene. It was creative, and Hermes added some pretty awesome humor. The fact that Hermes said the line about never giving up on family (which was pretty much straight from the book) made me so happy. At that moment, I think I may have squealed.
• Polyphemus's Lair: Where are the sheep?! Oh, he ate them. Umm. Okay. "You're a dude?!" I thought it was kinda lame, but Clarisse taking Grover's picture in the dress pretty much made my day.
• Thalia: Thalia coming alive was the BEST! I loved it. I'm glad they ended on the cliffhanger and opened it up.

THE END: No. NO NO NO NO NO NO NO. What did they do?! They were doing so well! The first 3/4 of the movie were going pretty well... but then they made Kronos rise and eat Grover and Luke, and Annabeth died (temporarily), and... just... ahi;ota;ooweth;aouth WHY? This had amazing potential. Why would someone do this? I have absolutely no idea what they were trying to do, and I can't even fathom WHY they would change the end like that. I just can't.

Percy's Birthday

Happy birthday, Percy!!

Today, I celebrated Percy's birthday by wearing a blue shirt, drawing a trident on my hand, and baking blue chocolate chip cookies!

What did you do to celebrate?

Sea of Monsters Movie Review (Spoiler-Free!)

 This afternoon, I went to the movie theater to watch the Sea of Monsters with some of my best friends. Prior to going, I was reading feedback from various admins on Facebook, and the opinions were very mixed. I wasn't quite sure what to think or expect. And even now, after seeing it, I frankly still don't know what to say.

 I think the trailers for the movie were somewhat misleading. It made it look like we were going to get a movie that, accuracy-wise, was 50 times better than The Lightning Thief adaptation. Sadly, such was not the case. 

 Without thinking of the book, I suppose it was good. One could say that I'm biased due to the fact that I have read the book, and most certainly loved it. The acting improved from the first movie, and the new actors were definitely refreshing. I'd like to give huge pats on the back to Stanley Tucci, Nathan Fillion, Douglas Smith, and Leven Rambin, who all made fabulous additions to the cast. Logan Lerman's narration was great. The cinematography was enjoyable, to say the least. Some scenes were super cool in how they were filmed, and others were mediocre. The movie was packed with thrill and action.

 One thing that really bothered me was the pacing. I found it quite odd, and somewhat imbalanced . It spent too much time on some parts, and not enough on others. As the movie neared the end, it seemed sort of awkward -- it definitely could have used a few extra minutes, and/or two or three extra scenes.

 Now, the part I'm sure you've all been waiting for: how it ranks as a book-to-movie adaptation!

 My first problem with it, from the book-lover's standpoint, was the character interaction. Some characters just weren't interacting with each other properly, which could be linked to the change in how the characters met each other in the first place. Additionally, Percy's internal conflict at this point was completely different than it was in the book. Perhaps it was because of the age difference? Hades if I know. 

 Another mistake they made, yet again, was plot/occurrences. Yep. That's right. They messed it up again. The plot itself, on the outside, appeared to be the same, but Percy's motivation to go after the Fleece was slightly different. For me at least, I feel like internal conflict/feelings of characters/motives are a huge part of what makes me enjoy books and movies.

 As I previously mentioned, the pacing was seriously messed up. There were plenty of scenes in the book which could have fit in very well with the movie that they simply didn't include. In my very humble and honest opinion, adding stuff that actually happened in the book to certain spots would have helped fix the timing issues.

 A major problem I had with it was that they revealed things that really shouldn't have been revealed until about, hmm, two or three movies later? There are certain things in the book that were kept secret or unsaid for a reason. At this rate, they're either going to run out of surprises by The Last Olympian, or just have to start making them up.

 Finally, the entire end, except for the last two minutes, of the movie was just... different. I could go on forever just WONDERING why they would even change something that they honestly didn't need to change.

 I really hate to seem like a negative Nelly with this, but it seemed like this movie had so much potential to be a great book-to-movie adaptation! I guess I'll have to mention positive things now... I LOVED DIONYSUS! He had some genuinely funny and Dionysus-like lines, and he pulled them off very well. There were some things they changed that I actually found very clever, and the references to the book that it did include made me feel very fangirly inside, even though I wish that they would have included more of them.

 One thing that really got me excited was all of the flashback scenes. Ahhh!! Little Annabeth, Grover, Thalia, and Luke were adorable and amazing. A++ to them. :)

 I'll definitely include more positive things in my review with spoilers. It's hard to say what I did like about it without actually giving away a lot of the movie's content. I'd say it was more loyal to the book than the first movie was, but that could be just because it hasn't quite sunk in yet. As of now, I liked it better than The Lightning Thief. That may or may not change over time.

P.S. My review with spoilers should be up within the next 7 days or so.

Sea of Monsters movie news... and lots of it!

Warning! May contain Sea of Monsters spoilers.


 HELLO! If you have noticed my absence, I apologize greatly, for I have been busy-ish. Maybe you all have noticed that I do my best blogging late at night (AKA anytime in between 11PM-3AM), which seems to be a problem. Sometimes I'm unable to access my laptop at night, so it becomes problematic when that happens. No laptop = no posts! (Technically I could use the desktop computer, but I'm much more comfortable doing everything on my laptop.) Now, moving on...

 Meanwhile, there has been a lot of news associated with the Sea of Monsters movie, which is less than one month from being released in the US. There are quite a few items, so I'll try to round them all up in this post! Get ready for some AWESOMENESS!

• The movie's running time is 107 minutes, as confirmed by the director, Thor Freudenthal.
• There is an international trailer! Watch here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ulE747QH_ew …
• The producer of the movie, Michael Barnathan (who was also an executive producer for the first three Harry Potter films), confirmed via Twittter that Grover WILL appear in a white dress! :D
• The slogan for the movies seems to be "In Demigods We Trust".
• A series of character posters have been released, as well as several other promotional pictures. They can be viewed here. For even more pictures, look here. (Also like the Facebook page that posted the pictures. I love that page infinitely!)
• There are weekly fan art contests on the official movie Tumblr page! Check it out here.
• The movie people started this really amazing branch of their website, called the Half-Blood Network. It's really entertaining to look through, and it even determines your godly parent when you enter! (I got Athena -- Not a surprise, really.) Also, there's a little reference to Annabeth calling Percy "Seaweed Brain"... :) Check it out!

 I believe that is it for now... I will keep you informed if anything else pops up. Also, make sure you follow the official Facebook page, Twitter, and Tumblr... then you might not need me! :o

Have a great, monster-free day, demigods! :)

First Annual Character Awards Results, Part 6 - Final Part!

Warning! May contain Lost Hero spoilers!

Hermes: Hello everyone, and welcome back to the First Annual Character Awards!

Apollo: This will be our last segment of this show...

(Audience "aww"s and "boo"s, etc.)

Apollo: (clears throat and continues speaking over the noise) ... and we will be presenting the awards for Funniest god and Funniest Character!

(Audience continues booing)

Apollo: Oh, be quiet!

(Audience grows silent)

Hermes: Good. Now let's get on with this. Presenting the award for the funniest god is Thalia, the muse of comedy herself!

(Thalia enters)

Thalia: Hello! I am here to present the award for the god who is the most hilarious. And, just so you know, I'm not Thalia Grace. She's my sister, though. Anyway, the nominees are...

Aphrodite

Dionysus/Bacchus

Apollo

Demeter

Hermes

Thalia: And the winner is... Apollo!

(Audience cheers; Apollo holds arms up while nodding and smiling smugly)

Apollo: Thank you, thank you. It means a lot, really. Perhaps I should thank you with a haiku...

Everyone: NO!

Apollo: (looking disappointed) Why not? Okay... Well thanks anyway!

Hermes: Apollo, since you are the funniest god, why don't you present the award for the Funniest Character(s)?

Apollo: I'd be obliged. The nominees are...

Leo Valdez

Percy Jackson

Coach Gleeson Hedge

Grover Underwood

George and Martha

Connor and Travis Stoll

Apollo: The winner is... Leo Valdez, bad boy supreme!

Audience: LEO! LEO! LEO! LEO! LEO! LEO!

(Leo enters stage, gets award from Apollo)

Leo: THANK YOU SO MUCH! I love you all! I'm glad my corny jokes got me somewhere... So yeah! Thanks! TEAM LEO!

(Audience cheers, Leo exits)

Hermes: Well, that's all for this year!

Apollo: But don't worry; we'll be back next year!

Hermes: Until then... Watch out for those monsters! :)

(Fades to black, credits roll)

Credits

• Hosts: Hermes & Apollo
• Producers: Olympus TV, Hephaestus, ~Le Awesome Blogger(;~
• Director: ~Le Awesome Blogger(;~
• Winners: Leo Valdez, Percy Jackson, Frank Zhang, Annabeth Chase, Apollo, Silena Beauregard, Arachne, Gaea and Her Children, Zoe Nightshade, Reyna
• Special Guests: Shakira, Aphrodite, Athena, Thalia, The Three Fates, Charles Beckendorf
• Thank you, viewer, for watching!!!!

Apology? My computer is spazzing out and I can't write ANYTHING in the body of my posts, which is why this is a really long title. I was JUST working on the last part of the Character Awards when it just went blank. ;~; Until my computer decides to start working again, no posts :(

Uncle Rick at BEA13

 Hey guys! I found this video a few days ago, and I thought it was absolutely hilarious. I think Uncle Rick could do stand up. xD The video is his speech from Book Expo America 2013. Enjoy! :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8-Slm2gMWg&feature=youtu.be

House of Hades Chapter I Discussion

Warning! May contain House of Hades spoilers! (I love the sound of that!)

 As you probably know, the House of Hades sneak peak came with the Son of Sobek e-book. If you haven't gotten to read it, you can read it here. (Link courtesy of percyjacksonforlife.blogspot.com, who was kind enough to post it.)

 This... I just... I don't even know. I feel so sorry for everyone on the Argo II right now. They're tired, bruised, broken, beaten down, and without a strong leader. My poor babies! </3 Without Percy and Annabeth, they have no backbone. They're under attack and they can't really do much about it with the time limit they're on. Hazel tries to take over, and lead them, but she just can't! Nico is still weak from the stupid twins kidnapping him, and Leo... poor Leo... He thinks the whole thing is his fault. He's working day and night and... just... :( I really didn't think it would be that bad!

 This is painful for me to think about. The more I write this, the more I feel sorry for these characters, and the more I want to read the House of Hades. So goodbye.